A blog about navigating the realities, struggles, and frustrations of life while unemployed—with a positive outlook. Opinion commentary pieces on unemployment and hiring plus informative articles & tips on life learning, career, well-being.

When you get to the interview stage, you prepare for the interview and seek to make a great impression on the hiring managers. From there, you get silence.

You’ve been rejected.

All of this is discouraging, and you take it personally.

Right?

Because you’re “selling yourself as the product,” how can you NOT take this rejection personally?

You can’t.

I understand those feelings of rejection in the job search.

I understand all of the time it takes to prepare application materials—only to receive silence. I understand those feelings of preparing to succeed in an interview and receiving compliments—only to receive silence, a rejection notice, or a rejection phone call afterward.

I’ve taken these rejections personally, so I know you do too. It hurts.

You believe something’s wrong with you. You feel you’re the reason you can’t land a job.

Believe me when I say I know and understand.

Although faced with constant rejection and you take it personally, you shouldn’t respond to it personally. Instead, continue moving forward in your process.

How do you handle job search rejection and move forward?

Below, I’ll list 4 ways I’ve learned to keep pushing.

How to Handle Rejection in Your Job Search Unsplash Original Photo Courtesy of Volkan Olmez. Edited by Me.

Remember Who You Are.

In a previous article here on the blog titled, You Aren’t Them, I encouraged you to make corrections to distorted definitions of yourself.

If you’re identifying who you are by your lack of a job (or career), rejections will hurt all the more. Remember this: you aren’t just a job title.

Who you are goes beyond these things.

Side Tracking Moment: I’ll also say this: when you don’t seek validation from these things, you experience an unexplainable but great feeling!

Kick the Negative Self-Talk.

Upon receiving rejections, negative messages creep in mentally. Feelings of self-doubt and discouragement speak to you, and you internalize them.

They bring you down.

You feel worthless.

When this happens, however, you must remember something.

You’re worthy because your worth doesn’t come from a job or those in hiring positions. Don’t let any rejection take away this truth and fight against discouragement as it comes into your heart.

Also remember this: in the hiring process, other factors come into play—even interviewer biases in some cases—so don’t beat yourself up over why you didn’t get an opportunity to interview or why you didn’t get the job.

“. . . The decision to not hire you was based on the company’s specific criteria and needs which may or may not have anything to do with how you showed up at the interview. That you weren’t the perfect match doesn’t mean that you’re not an outstanding professional with excellent attributes and talents.”

The problem could’ve been them, so why stress yourself out?

Seek Constructive Feedback—If Possible.

For legal purposes, employers don’t like giving feedback, but it doesn’t hurt to politely ask for it if you’re seeking ways to improve your interviewing skills.